Unboxing Papergang - Box No. 45 - November 2019 Edition - Hygge*

I don't know about where you are the moment but I'm debating on whether or not to start building an ark. I can't remember when we last had a day without rain. I know a lot of people will disagree with me but I would definitely prefer cosying up and watching the snow fall to having to go out in that horrid rain that wets you! So that's why I am totally on board with the snowy, wintry festive, cosy, Hygge theme of November's Papergang box.

From what I gather this November's box is the last one that will feature the cut out cardboard sleeve, December's box will apparently feature  new and more environmentally sound packaging that will reduce Papergang's cardboard usage by up to 60%. As much as I love the cut out design I can see why they're making changes, and I can't wait to see the new design.

The outer sleeve on November's box features a very wintry, almost festive, alpine like village scene with wooden houses, fir trees, mountains and lots of snow. The reverse side of the sleeve features a cut out and make reindeer model, and underneath the sleeve as per usual, is the original brown cardboard box.

When you open the box the first thing that you see is a "Merry Christmas or whatever." Christmas gift catalogue from Ohh Deer. They have some lovely Christmas cards, some really nice decorations and a whole loads of really unusual and quirky gift ideas from cactus socks to hatching dragon candles, and politician dog toys, for the person in your life that thinks they have everything.

The contents of November's box came wrapped in a sheet of white tissue paper, I always reuse my tissue paper but in this case, it was all ripped when it arrived which was a real shame, as a nice wintry white, would be ideal for Christmas, never mind x

As per usual the box contained an information booklet which lists the box contents, and talks a little bit more about the artist and designer of box, who in this case is Kong-Yew Wong, and their career, methods, and inspirations.

6 x Christmas Cards 

Something I think we're getting out of the habit of in this country, is sending Christmas cards. I know I don't send as many as I used to, and to be honest I think it's a real shame. Nowadays it's all about emails and messages, yes messaging is practical, and quick but it is a little bit impersonal. Personally I love receiving a hand written card, I think it's such a nice feeling to know that somebody has taken a minute of two out of their day, to think about about you x 

November's box contained 6 small Christmas cards, and envelopes, in 3 different designs, all embracing the same cosy, wintry, Hygge theme as the outer box sleeve. two cards featured a skiing Santa design, with words, "Be Merry" embossed in gold foil, the box also contains two cards with a snow globe design featuring a wooden house, and snow covered trees, and the words "Be Cosy". The final two cards featured the words"Be Jolly" again in an embossed gold foil, and a seal / sea lion, and Christmas presents design.

Printed in the UK onto FSC certified card stock, the cards are blank inside for your own message and they each come with a rustic, manilla style brown envelope. These aren't the biggest Christmas cards out there but they are super cute, and the designs are lovely so they would be great for work colleague, school friends, or you could even use them as gift tags, on large presents, and given the small size they would also be quite cheap to post.

These Christmas cards are exclusive to this box but as I say Ohh Deer has a huge range of Christmas cards, ranging from traditional, to funny, to cute, so you should find a card to suit most people in your life.

A5 To Do List

Seriously another organiser / To Do list? As cute as this one as with it's icy, washed out aqua colour way, and pretty alpine village design, I really don't need another planner style pad. Since I got my first Papergang box way back in May, every other box seems to have included something to help you get organised. I'm really starting to think that Papergang are trying to tell me something.

Don't get me wrong it's a nice pad, it's made in a factory when 95% of the waste is recycled, the design is sweet, and the quality is there, I just would have preferred a plain notebook, or even a proper 2020 diary.

Again this specific design is exclusive to Papergang, but there are a wide range of To Do lists, organiser pads, and planners, for sale on Ohh Deer at various price points ranging from £5.95 to around £7.95.

1 x Sheet Gift Wrap

Have you started your wrapping yet? Have you even bought any Christmas presents yet? I've definitely started my shopping, and I'm actually going to do some wrapping this afternoon go me - If you haven't done anything yet, don't worry I'm sure you'll manage what ever you need to do in the next four weeks. Now I always try to theme, or at least go with some sort of colour scheme, for at least some of my wrapping and whilst this next item doesn't exactly work with this years planner, I'm going to use this for a couple of special presents.

November's box came with a large sheet of gift wrap. Featuring the same design as the outer box, this sheet of gift wrap is printed using eco toners, and vegetable based inks onto a 100$ recycled paper. It features the same winter design as the box sleeve featuring a snowy white background with Scandinavian style wooden houses, snow laden trees, snowmen, skiing santas, and reindeer's.

This a nice sheet of good quality gift wrap - it's nice and thick and it's much better quality then you would find on the average roll or even on a standalone sheet. The is fun and festive but at the same time classy enough, that you could give it to someone of any age or gender. Ohh Deer sell a lot of gift wrap starting at around £1.75 a sheet but they don't seem to have anything else quite like this. 

3 x Gift Tags 

To coordinate with the sheet of gift wrap, November's Hygge themed box contained 3 matching gift tags - A pale aqua coloured tag featuring a snowman and some fir trees and the words "Be Merry", a white tag, featuring a snow covered house and the words "Be Jolly", and finally a charcoal, grey tag featuring a reindeer, and the words "Be Cosy". Again the quality is excellent, and the gold foil embossed text, gives a simple design, a more luxurious feel.  There are a couple of similar tag sets on Ohh Deer that sell for around 95p for 3.

Coaster 

When it's cold outside all you want to do is snuggle up under a blanket with a warm drink and a cat, so to avoid spillages and stains, the November Papergang box contains a useful and practical drinks coaster.

This cork backed coaster features the same snow covered village, fir trees, reindeer, and snowman design as the outer box, with the words "Stay Cosy" in the middle. Whilst it doesn't seem to be coated in a resin or a plastic, the coaster has a matte finish so your mug should stay put.

Everyone needs a coaster, so this is a nice addition that works really well with wintry, cosy theme. There are a large range of coasters available on the Ohh Deer website starting at around £2.95

Gold Washi Tape

You should know be now that I love anything stationery wise that sticks, so I was really pleased that November's box contained another roll of washi tape. I love me some washi tape, and this roll of gold sticky tape will be idea for a bit of festive crafting.

Washi tape is basically tearable and depending on the surface, re positional, paper tape. This tape is in a gorgeous gold tone, and it has a slightly textured finish.

This particular colour isn't available on Ohh Deer but a similar roll in a copper tone retails at around £2.50.

Universal Calendar Card 

Finally the ever present universal calendar card. This time it features two blue tones, a pale aqua and a deeper, more teal blue, and a star, snowman, and reindeer design.

Right, what do I think about this box? well I like it, I love the design and the concept. Given that Christmas is on its way the majority of the contents is really useful, and I definitely be using the cards, wrap, tags, and washi tape over the next few weeks but really? another planner? I'm probably one of the most disorganised people on planet earth and I'm all for being organised but even I don't need quite as many planners and organisers, as Papergang seem to have sent out to subscribers over the last 6 months or so.

As much as I love the concept, this constant repetition is really making wonder about whether or not I can continue to justify my subscription. I love the idea of the next months Groovy Kawai theme, but after that we'll see x Let me know your thoughts, and if you fancy trying Papergang for yourself and getting your hands on December's Groovy Kawaii themed box then please click this link to find out more x 

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Unboxing Papergang Box - No. 42 - August 2019 Edition - Hit The Town*

In my previous Papergang post I spoke of how much I loved the idea and the concept, but that I wasn't sure whether it was something that I could justify in the long term, will I stuck with it and I have to say that August's box is probably my favourite one so far.

The theme is "Hit The Town" and the box and its contents have a New York City theme. The outer box sleeve features a brightly coloured, line drawn, cityscape design, combined with quirky cartoons of things that we would associate with The Big Apple, including landmarks like the Empire State Building, the Statue Of Liberty, and the Chrysler Building, combined with drawings of pizza, pretzels, and even King Kong, and Godzilla!

The outer sleeve features the usual cut out, Papergang logo, and the reverse of the box features a "cut out and craft" washi tape dispenser.

When you remove the sleeve, you're greeted by the usual, brown cardboard box, open the box and the contents of August's box is wrapped in a sheet of pale pink tissue paper.

The first item in the box as per usual is the little paper information booklet, which in this case tells you exactly what's in the box, and it also includes instructions on how to make you your washi tape dispenser. As well as that it also tells you about the designer that created the August box, artist and illustrator Jacqueline Colley, and about some of her inspirations and ideas. As well as designing for Ohh Deer and Papergang, Jacqueline has also worked with companies such as Twitter, Mollie Makes, and Kate Spade.

A4 ish Desk Pad

The first item in the box, is a brightly coloured desk pad / organiser pad / to do list. Featuring the same design as the outer box, it features quirky cartoon like drawings of Godzilla and King Kong, as well as New York City landmarks, and things that we would associate with New York such as Brownstones, cocktails and apples.

This slightly smaller than A4 desk pad features 3 sections, one for days of the week and the weekend, a to do list, and a notes section. Printed using eco toners and vegetable inks, it's a nice quality, thick pad, and whilst  I haven't counted the pages there is easily enough sheets for at least 5 or 6 months, if not more.

I've already received a desk pad in a previous Papergang post (you can read it here) but I actually prefer this one, it's a bit bigger, the quality is excellent and I love the cartoon like illustrations. Like last months box there are no recommended retail prices on any of the items but similar desk pads retails at around £7.95 on Ohh Deer.

1 x Sheet Gift Wrap 

Next up a sheet of gift wrap, which features the same colourful illustration as the outer sleeve - I'm only showing you a small section of the sheet, I haven't measured it but it's probably around 8 times this size. It seems a shame to use it but you could wrap a decent size present in it. Again it's a nice quality item, a lot of wrapping paper is a bit flimsy but this is actually more like a heavy weight paper than what would you would normally expect from a sheet of gift wrap. Again environmentally conscious throughout, the factory that makes this gift wrap recycles more than 95% of their waste. As always everything in this box is exclusive and unavailable elsewhere but similar sheets of gift wrap retail between £1.75 and £1.95 on Ohh Deer.

1 x Greetings Card

The next item is what Ohh Deer are really famous for - a greetings card. If you're one of those people who likes things to coordinate, then this card works perfectly with the gift wrap. It features the same Jacqueline Colley design, the line drawn city scape, and icons that symbolise New York City, only with the words "HIT THE TOWN" embossed in a hot pink typeface. The card is blank inside so you can use it for any occasion or even just to say Hello or Bon Voyage and it contains a natural, brown envelope.

Again the quality is excellent, it's a nice sturdy card that will stand up and won't fall down with a the tiniest draft of air. The card is printed onto card stock which is FSC certified which means that is made from card sourced from responsible sources, through recycling or well managed, sustainable forest. Greeting cards are probably one of Ohh Deer's biggest sellers, and cards retail between, £2.75 and £2,95.

A5 Art Print

The NYC design also features on the next item in August's box, an A5 Art Print. The print again features a version of the fun cityscape design, on a pink background with the words "NEW YORK"printed on it in a darker shade of pink.

Like the previous print that I received in the June, Under The Sea box (read my post here), it isn't made of the thickest card, but you could easily put it in a frame or stick it up with washi tape ;) There aren't many A5 prints on the Ohh Deer website but the ones that there are retail between £4.95 and £5.95.

Enamel Pin

As well as greetings cards, and stationery, Ohh Deer and Papergang also sell a variety of enamel pins and iron patches. As I've said previously I'm not really a patch girl but I do love badges, brooches, and enamel pins. This months box features a fabulous Pretzel shaped pin. Made of metal with a rubberised fastening, it's a warm almost rose gold tone in colour, and it features tiny white / silver dots, which I guess represent sesame seeds. It super cute and I absolutely love it. Again this is a box exclusive but similar enamel pins and pin badges retail at around £5.95.

Washi Tape

I've probably dropped enough hints in this post as to what the next item is but in case you haven't caught on, it's a roll of washi tape. I used to be one of these people who didn't see what the fuss was with washi tape, it's coloured or patterned sticky tape after all but after buying a few rolls, I quickly became a bit of a collector, and I now store my rolls in a large Ferrero Rocher box, so I can see all of the pretty colours and patterns - I guess it makes sense I love stickers and if you think about it a roll of  tape is just a giant roll of stickers!

This is particular nice roll, in a bright turquoise blue, it features big yellow taxis, apples, hot dogs, pizza slices, apples, pretzels, and the letters NYC. It's a paper based tape so it tears nice and easily. I use washi tape for all sorts of things, but this would be a particularly nice one for scrapbooking or journalling particularly if you've got an trip to NYC to record. Alas I don't but I'm sure I'll find a use for it. Rolls of coloured and patterned tape retail between £2.50 and £2.95 on Ohh Deer.

Universal Calendar Card 

The final item in the August box is an ever present in the Papergang box, the Universal Calendar Card. These seem to appear in every box, and they always complement the box theme perfectly. This month the card is a pale pink colour and it features the same line drawn city design as the rest of the box but this time in grey and black.

As much as I loved last months In Bloom box, I think this is definitely my all round favourite box, I love New York, and I love Jacqueline Colley's fun, and cheerful, cartoon like illustrations. I love all of the products but the standouts for me have to be the pin, the desk pad, and of course the washi tape! Since the boxes just keep getting better and better I'm going to stick with Papergang for now, and fingers crossed that they keep up the standard. Let me know your thoughts on this box and don't forget check out the Papergang website to find out more about the box, and of course to shop from Ohh Deer.

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